If Herbert, the second head of the Black Sun Society, had seen the present scene in the city of Seren, he might have applauded with joy.

Because in Herbert's theory, the nature of human society and living things itself converge infinitely.

As he said to Shug at the Black Sun Society***, he believes that human beings, and the civilization and society composed of other intelligent beings, must find a way out of the continuous internal and external competition.

Correspondingly, the constituent individuals of these civilizations and societies naturally need to constantly carry out rounds of purging in the midst of competition.

In his eyes, the winners deserve to obtain resources, the losers are naturally plundered, and the death and death of the losers will naturally contribute to the success of the winners, and in the process, those competitors who are at a disadvantage must rely on their own ability to change their status and status, so their ability to increase and their value in the world is also enhanced.

This set of theories has an extremely precise and concise summary in the original world of Xiuge.

"Natural selection, survival of the fittest."

And this incomparably cruel law of nature is now being repeated over and over again in this city of Seren.

It is not only the dangerous children of the Abyss who are compressing the living space of the survivors, but also the humans themselves.

Food, water, warm clothing, and weapons......

In the city of Selen, where the social structure and rules have completely collapsed, people have to rack their brains for these things, and for those who are already vulnerable in the city, they must take greater risks and even pay a huge price if they want to win these bargaining chips to maintain their lives.

As for those who refuse to touch the adventure, most of them have now become "food".

"Food" in every sense.

The mages of the Legislature are now largely confined to the Legislature's branches, while the members of the former independent government of Salem have joined forces with some of the Iris guards who remain in the city, using the former Derland embassy as a base to operate, and both sides have managed to maintain their dominance in the dilapidated city with their own force and resources.

While it's funny to talk about "domination" in this environment, at least they still have considerable control over the resources in the city.

Unlike those who can defend themselves with weapons, magic, and rituals, the survivors of the city of Salem must embrace a different way of life.

In order to be able to find useful supplies, they often choose to go out during the day, to places where important supplies may have been stored—most of them are commercial areas densely packed with shops and warehouses, or some offices that used to belong to the independent government of the city of Seren, and places such as police stations have been looted less than a week after the Silem Incident.

And with the growth of the children of the Abyss, and the continuous reduction of the stock of materials in the city, the battles between people began to become more frequent and fierce.

For those who do not have sufficient means of self-defense, and are very easy to fall into the "prey" of others, if they want to replenish the necessities of life in time, they must choose to go out during those delicate times.

For example, early in the morning or late in the evening.

Generally speaking, evening evening is more dangerous than early morning, because when night is about to fall, the activities of the children of the abyss will become more frequent, and going out at such a time is tantamount to gambling with their lives.

Therefore, before the sun rises, it is the time for many difficult survivors to grit their teeth and go out and win the capital for themselves.

At this moment, a roaring flame burned in a dark shop.

Fifteen-year-old Marlena huddled in the corner of the store, and she had good luck today, and in less than half an hour she had been out of the house, she had managed to find a pile of cans in the small warehouse at the back of the grocery store, and Marlena was almost crying with joy when she found them.

Without exception, these cans are all "flower brands" made by Delan King

Canned fruits, well-preserved and varied, from plain blueberries, to flower peaches, to Alice's "crown apple" in the royal capital of Teresa.

When she saw those beautiful labels and packaging, the corners of Marlena's mouth almost drooled.

After all, she hadn't eaten much of these things in the past.

In fact, she shouldn't have been out looking for supplies today.

But in the past few days, the person who had been trying to take care of them has become ill, there are few supplies left in the hideout, and the emergency medicine is completely depleted, in this case, as the "sister" of the children, Marlena resolutely carries the huge backpack out of the door.

Although we have not succeeded in finding a drug, these canned fruits that can effectively replenish the body's energy are already a huge reward.

What's more, the store wasn't too far from their hideout, so Marlena immediately packed a large amount of canned food into her backpack and immediately prepared to leave.

But it was at this time that the poor girl discovered that there was a huge crack behind the collapsed shelves of the store.

After the terrible earthquake that had struck before, this kind of rift had become extremely common in the city of Seren, and a black rift connected to the ground often represented death and doom.

Perhaps she was aware of the noise caused by Marlena's search for items in the store's warehouse, or perhaps she was just used to going back underground through the gap in the store, but as she was about to leave, she happened to bump into a "thick mud" that was slowly creeping in from the store's door.

In the midst of the mud, Marlena could even see the remains of a survivor who had not yet been fully digested, and his head, which had fallen off his body, was suspended in the dark pus, and his empty eye sockets were looking in her direction, as if to cry out to her in despair.

Facing the heir of the abyss who was about to pounce on her, the girl threw out the alchemy bomb she was carrying at the first time, and the blazing fire formed a sea of fire, blocking the black mud that was trying to move forward at the door, but it also sealed the girl's escape route.

The flames scorched the surging black shadows, and a foul smell wafted out.

And after being scorched by the flames, the Descendants of the Abyss, who had devoured many people and absorbed many human memories, suddenly grew many mouths, and shouted and laughed at the prey in the store.

It knew that this little prey could not escape from this house.

As a solitary descendant of the Abyss, it is most enthusiastic about prey of this size, as it does not take much time to fully understand their memories and knowledge, and it is extremely easy to digest, which allows it to devote itself to the next hunt more quickly.

It was a very ordinary miscellaneous store, with very limited space inside, presumably because someone had tried to convert it into a shelter by sealing the windows with thick wooden planks that had deprived Marlena of her chance to escape from the store.

"Click!"

In the midst of the billowing smoke, Marlena threw an alchemical bomb again, and the flames with meager magical power became vigorous again, but this act was only a delay.

The Descendants of the Abyss are no ordinary beasts, they are afraid of the flames, but they will not retreat because of this, anyway, there is still a lot of time before the sun fully rises, and it can wait.

A considerable part of the smoke was blown into the store by the cold wind, which caused Marlena to cough violently, and under the stimulus of the smoke and the influence of fear, her tears began to flow uncontrollably, and driven by the desire to survive, she found a hard iron pipe from under the collapsed shelves, and used it to pry up the wooden planks sealed to the window.

However, the plank was so nailed that Malena, who was already severely malnourished, could not pry it open, and after several attempts, she was already wheezing violently, and the children of the Abyss outside could clearly sense and understand what was happening inside the store, so the mouths that grew out of them immediately came out

Happy laughter.

It has successfully learned and understood the concept of "breakfast" from human memory through its previous devouring, and it seems that it is time to eat at this time......

In the face of the chaotic and frenzied laughter of predators, Marlena's spirit was on the verge of collapse.

But at this moment, the sound of the "mud" suddenly changed, and the original laughter turned into a scream of horror in the blink of an eye, and in a matter of seconds, the scream was cut off on the spot, replaced by a strange but equally creepy small sound.

In the next moment, a cold blue magical light bloomed at the entrance of the shop, and a magic ball of color like an ice sculpture appeared above the flames out of thin air, and the cold mist that flowed from it continued to fall towards the burning flames below, and in just a few seconds, all the dancing flames were completely extinguished.

Immediately after, a mage's hand suddenly appeared beside the frightened girl, this palm revealed a heavy dark green color, and under its touch, the thick wooden plank firmly nailed to the window was easily removed, and the next second, a magical breeze created by a simple trick blew in the store, and the active air flow immediately swept away the smoke in the room.

On the street outside the shop, Shug glanced at the Descendants of the Abyss, who had been completely reduced to useless pus in the mist of the Mirror Emissary, and then said to the door of the shop, "Alright, come out...... I know you're in there!"

A moment later, a small, thin figure appeared in the doorway with a cower.

On her face, which was covered with black ash, there were still traces of her previous tears.

Xiuge saw that on the girl's back was a heavy backpack that looked like it was full of things, and in her hand was an alchemy bomb that had not yet been thrown.

Seeing this picture, Xiuge shook his head slightly, and his tone involuntarily slowed down a little: "Only you here? You come out on your own...... Looking for something?"

The girl looked at the young mage in front of her with some trepidation, then nodded slightly.

Seeing that the girl seemed willing to communicate with him, Shug crouched down, smiled and said, "Don't be afraid...... I'm just an ordinary mage, I used to travel here, but I ended up stranded on the north side of the city, and the guide I hired also died, and I finally escaped from there today."

The girl was obviously taken aback by her words, and seeing that she had always been very friendly, she cautiously asked, "North? There's a lot of monsters there......

"It's a lot, but I know what to do with them."

Shuge smiled and pointed to the black pus on the ground, "You see, they are actually very fragile, and magic can kill them with a single blow."

There was a slight glint in the girl's eyes, but almost all of the inhabitants of Van En retained a great deal of reverence for her status as a mage, so her mouth twitched slightly, but she did not say anything more.

"Don't worry, I'm not the same as those legendary mages, if you have any requests, you can tell me...... However, I'm also looking for a new guide."

In his own words, Hug made a small hint: "If you have the right person, you can take me to him as a reward for saving you, how about it?"

Hearing this, the light in the girl's eyes became brighter, and after a brief hesitation, she nodded vigorously: "Mr. Mage, I know someone who is most familiar with Salem City, and he will definitely be able to be your guide!" However, he is now sick and can only lie in bed......

Schug didn't show too much enthusiasm, and he knew that trust between people was not so easy to build in such a catastrophic environment.

So he narrowed his eyes hesitantly, "Maybe you can take me to meet him, although I'm not a doctor, maybe I can help...... But if someone you know can't help me, then I'm going to get paid, you know?" Z.br>

Hearing this, the girl became calmer instead, and she nodded vigorously, "I...... We

I also know a lot of places where food and weapons are hidden, but they are too far away and too dangerous, but if it were you, it would be fine...... We'd like to tell you about these locations free of charge!"

Clearly, she misunderstood what Shuge meant.

But for the moment, the two sides have reached a foundation of communication and trust, so Xiuge raised his hand and snapped his fingers lightly.

In the next moment, a huge mouse with three slender tails appeared in the street, and under the girl's horrified gaze, the big furry mouse yawned with some dissatisfaction, and then lowered its head and lay on the ground.

It already has the consciousness of being a mount.